Timbre+ @ 73A Ayer Rajah Crescent ( One North )

Located in the far west, just a few minutes walk from One-North MRT Station. Seemed popular and trending these days. Dropped by to visit on a Saturday evening, and boy, it was so crowded. Families, tourists, foodies, the young and trendy, all seemed to be out in full-force to check-out this place with a novelty concept of getting food from containers and food trucks.

food truck concept

crowded

For the uninitiated, this is a hawker-like non air-conditioned container/food truck concept. By 6pm, the hawkers stalls would have pulled down their shutters for the day, but no worries as plenty of options are still available till 11pm. Shops such as Teppei Daidokoro, Two-Wings and Kush were all sporting long queues. Food tray requires a deposit of SGD1 each to encourage the return of tray. However, some will opt for no-tray and just leave their rubbish at the table. Cleaning staff seemed to not take notice and will just stroll by with their bins. The next occupant will then have to chase these uncles to pass them the empty bottles, left-over plates and what-nots.

Depending on your timing and luck, here are the things that you will need to exercise patience. Here's how your patience will be tested:

• Parking - 10 to 15 minutes
• Table - 10 to 15 minutes
• Look around and see what you want to eat - 10 minutes
• Queue for food (per stall) - 30 minutes
• Wait for food to be prepared (per stall) - 20 to 30 minutes
• Get drinks (if food stall doesn't have it) - 5 minutes

Our strategy was as such; deposited a friend to 'jaga' the table, while the other 3 went around to look for food. None of us had anything particular in mind, so we just went around and to choose items at random, depending on what catches our fancy. Since we were rather full, I opted for yakitori sticks while Tiara went to find salted egg yolk wings.

queuing at Kush food truck

The food truck is a confined space, so they can't have too many people in there. And, if you had guessed it, then yes, it does translate to a longer waiting time. Why? Because the person who is taking your order will at some point in time, doubles up as the person who preps the food. Plus, throw in some indecisive customers who takes a slightly longer time to order and then to change order etc, plus another minute for the staff to inform the customer about the tray deposit policy...

in the end, we wait

Kris got a plate of fried calamari from Portico Platos. Unbelievably, bland. Even the sauce provided couldn't save it. The sandy/grainy texture on the batter of the bland calamari made it worse.

Portico Platos - fried calamari @$8

Tiara had specifics in mind, and that would be salted egg yolk wings. My reaction? The wings had shrunken! Haha. The Two-Wings that we had at Essen @ Pinnacle was huge. Fried wings, coated with salted egg, what's not to like? But I think I still prefer their normal huge delicious wings with housemade spicy chili sauce.

Two Wings - salted egg yolk wings

There's also pizza from The World Is Flat by Tanuki Raw. Had the Flat Samurai, which was basically a charcoal pizza topped with chopped cabbage, mayo and bonito flakes. It's like a flattened takoyaki with all the essential ingredients such as prawn, mayo, chopped cabbage, beef, bacon and bonito flakes on a pizza.

The World is Flat - Fat Samurai @$9 per slice

Also had munchies from Kush. Charcoal licked skewers. Hmm, this was decent. But the chicken was rather lean. Angus beef was well seasoned.

Kush - skewers: chicken, angus beef and asparagus bacon (@$2.00, $4.50 and $2.80 per stick respectively)

Come early, if you want to have a more comfortable experience. Be considerate to the next diner and return your own tray or throw away your own rubbish.

beer of a different kind - IBC root beer @$3

Beer prices starts from $10 upwards while cider goes for $15. Fiji water and soft drinks at $3. Some shops may charge extra 20cents for a cup with ice.

Timbre+

Website: http://timbreplus.sg/

Paradise Dynasty 乐天皇朝 @ Lot One Choa Chu Kang

Family was in town, so had dinner at Paradise Dynasty at Lot One the other night. Rather late dinner, around 8pm. Queued for about 20 minutes. Service was rather slow that night.

hi there

wanton ramen in peppercorn sauce (麻辣紅油抄手)

Dad tried something different that night. The mala wanton ramen. It leaves a slight tingling sensation on the lips but not too strong. Thought it would be very spicy but turned out quite pleasant.

xiao long bao

sheng jian bao

The xiao long bao were quite lovely. Juicy, small plump dumplings. The sheng jian bao tasted similar to xiao long bao but its skin was too thick.

Two dishes that came ultra late, was the fried chicken and the Shanghai fried rice. Thought we were trying Shanghai fried rice for the first time but later realized, we had this before. Can't blame us for not remembering as it was way back in 2013. Read about it here. The fried rice required a major heap of those chili condiment. Too bland on its own.

Shanghai fried rice

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fried chicken

The fried chicken was done quite well with nice crispy skin and moist piping hot meat. Served with sweet mayo dip.

There was a 30% promotion for Shanghai dishes including xiao long bao, drunken chicken and Shanghai fried rice. However, it turned out that we couldn't enjoy the discount for the xiao long bao. The reason was that the offer was only valid for a basket of 6 pieces only.

Expect to pay about $80 for a family of 5 adults.

The Wine Company @ Dempsey Road

"Dinner?"
"Ok. Let's go."

That's our usual modus operandi. Impromptu meet-ups. It's been quite a while since last visit to The Wine Company @ Dempsey. They seem to have more service staff now (with at least 2 trainees, that night).  One of the most interesting observation is that this place do employ older employees as well as young and trendy looking ones.

signage

The sky was threatening to rain, but I can't really tell. Weather was hot and humid, and skies darkening. Some tables were marked as 'Reserved' and, it was being reserved for pretty long while! Good for the people who made reservations. Overheard another party that arrived and seemed like their reservation was not found.

wine for you, ma'am?

"Are you very hungry?"
"I'm ok. Not very. Just order lor."

That's how we roll. Really. Hence, we chose appetisers. Fried wings, calamari and bruschetta. Not very filling, but will do. Easily paired with drinks.

dinner for the not very hungry - chicken wings, calamari and bruschetta platter

The bruschetta (@$8.90++) was crispy and had different toppings each. I got a tuna looking one but turned out to be something of a chicken liver pate and the olive tapenade.

The chicken wings, was nice but not quite satisfactory. Its marinade seemed muted for the non-asian taste.

nam yee chicken wings @$9.90++

well-fried calamari @$9.90++

And, one needa have a drink. Got myself a wine cocktail. Came with two overly ripened strawberries. Nice reddish hue though. A ladies' drink.

wine cocktail @$9.90++

Expect to spend about $40+ per pax for drinks and food.